Chapter 6
Chapter Six
Branock
Isprinted for the row of snow-covered pine trees that lay to our left, pulling Evadine along with me.
The rocks cascading from the mountain were a roar in my ears.
They were right on our heels, so close I could feel small pieces kicking at the backs of my legs.
There was no way we could outrun this. And mystical, hallucination-inducing tea or not, I wasn’t going to risk us being buried alive.
I just had to make it to the trees.
With one hand, I opened the leather pouch strapped to my belt and put a dandelion leaf along with crushed wormwood on my tongue. As we reached the thicket, Evadine tried to keep running, but I pulled her back.
“There’s no time. We won’t make it,” I said around the herbs. Concentrating on the branches surrounding us and ignoring the oncoming tide of boulders, I shouted, “Voquer!”
The branches instantly sprang to life. They elongated at a rapid pace, twisting and twining as they stretched toward us. Even the roots at their bases grew upward. They broke through the ground and met the tips of the branches until they formed a shell of bark, leaves, roots, and dirt.
“Praetum firma.” I uttered the shield spell again, and the wall of earth curved and solidified around us, holding us in its dark cocoon.
The sound of the avalanche was muffled inside the walls.
When the first wave hit, the ground trembled and branches shook.
Several tree limbs snapped off and went flying, and I gritted my teeth as the shield spell threatened to break.
I pulled Evadine into my arms and tightened the enchantment.
The walls now brushed at our backs, bowing under the strength of the rockslide.
Sweat broke out on my forehead, and my muscles strained with exertion.
It felt like something was trying to crack the well of magic inside my chest wide open.
It pushed and stretched the limits of my power, shaking my arms as I braced myself against Evadine.
She was soft and steady beneath me, even though I could feel her heart racing. Her arms were wrapped around my waist, fingers digging into my back like she needed to hold on or she’d be ripped away.
Just when I thought I couldn’t take it anymore, when the ringing grew loud in my ears and my head spun, when I was sure my magic was about to snap into pieces…it stopped.
The roar of the rocks dulled to a low rumble, and the pressure against my shield slowly decreased. I gave it another few seconds before I carefully released the spell.
Branches and roots unwound themselves, slinking back into the earth like burrowing snakes. A deluge of rocks, stone, sticks, and snow were piled high around us. I pulled back from Evadine, my muscles still clenched and anxious, and she stared at me with those wide, hazel eyes.
“That was incredible,” she breathed out, the words skating across my nose and warming my chest.
My breaths were labored as I responded, “That might be the first nice thing you’ve said to me.”
“Miracles happen.” She put a hand on my shoulder, her forehead pinching. “Are you okay?”
“It was just a lot of magic. I’ll be fine. We should keep going,” I said, motioning away from the mountain.
“Go where? We don’t even know where we are.”
“The avalanche was obviously trying to lead us somewhere. Let’s hope it’s out of this nightmare.” Without thinking, I grabbed her hand and started walking further into the trees.
When she didn’t pull away, something in my chest tightened.
We made our way through the mess, stepping over heaps of rocks and trying not to get stuck on sharp edges. The wind was blocked by the canopy of trees as we traversed deeper, but the chill from the snow still seeped into my bones.
We came upon a pair of tall bushes, reaching a foot past my head. There was a small opening in the center, enough for me to put my arm through and shimmy between. I pushed the edges aside to help Evadine get past, but when her eyes caught onto something over my shoulder, she stopped in her tracks.
“I—I think I know where the avalanche was leading us,” she said softly.
I spun on my heel to find a quaint cottage up ahead, nestled beneath a canopy of moss-draped trees. Icicles hung from the thatched roof, and the shuttered windows were etched in frost. A bright white door stood out among the red brick of the house.
When I looked back at Evadine, the color had drained from her fair features. She licked her lips and tentatively stepped onto the cobblestone path leading to the cottage.
“Wait, Evadine—haven’t we learned our lesson about walking up to stranger’s houses?” I hissed after her.
Without pausing, she twisted her neck and called over her shoulder. “This isn’t a stranger’s house. It’s mine.”
I scrambled to keep up with her. “What?”
“My family used to have a little cottage on the beach that we’d go to sometimes in the summer. This…this looks just like it.” We reached the front, and she fingered a silver wind chime with an apple blossom at the end. “Even the wind chimes.”
“It’s not real, remember? It’s like my palace.” I put a hand on her wrist to try and steer her away, but she shook me off.
“I know, but…I just need to see…” As if in a daze, she turned the handle and walked through the door, her eyes glassy and far-off.
It opened up into a large sitting room. Like in the false palace, everything inside the cottage was silver. The walls, the floors, the fireplace on the left. It was barren, though. No furniture or paintings, no rugs or decorations on the mantle.
Nothing except for a large mirror.
It hung on the wall in the far back corner. Vines made of black iron twisted around the frame. It looked like it was as long as my forearm, and as we drew nearer, I saw a crack splintering through the center of the glass.
When Evadine stopped right in front of it, something shimmered.
Looking back at her in the reflection was a young girl from the waist up. Long blonde hair, hazel eyes, bright pink cheeks.
It looked like Evadine, but ten years younger.
How was that possible?
The girl opened her mouth. “This is your fault,” she said, her harsh, guttural voice echoing around us as if inside a cave. “You’re the reason we’re trapped here.”